Short Summary

European Common Market Foreign Ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday (24 July) to discuss ways of paying for pledged food aid to Indochinese refugees.

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European Common Market Foreign Ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday (24 July) to discuss ways of paying for pledged food aid to Indochinese refugees. They approved plans for the Community to provide aid worth up to forty million dollars (18 million pounds).

SYNOPSIS: The meeting of EEC Foreign Ministers followed last week's Geneva conference on the refugee problem.

The ministers rejected a proposal to divert aid meant for Vietnam so that it could go to the refugees. But the conference still had to decide where it would find the founds to fill half the refugees' cereal needs--mostly in the form of rice. They have promised 20,000 tonnes of rice and 1,500 tonnes of milk powder. The nine countries are already supplying half the refugees' food needs until the end of August. And the ministers agreed to give the United Nations High Commissioned for Refugees another 14 million dollars (6 million pounds) for urgent needs such as medical supplies.

The ministers have also set aside a further 5.6 million dollars (2.4 million pounds) for relief work in Kampuchea where there is also a pressing need for medical supplies, according to the International Red Cross.

A spokesman said the aid to kampuchea might be channelled through the Red Cross or the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in order that it reach the people most in need.